Philips 276E8VJSB Review: 4K monitor for everyday use

Tech Week Score
5.0
- Jonas Müller

For those who are trying to save money on a 4K monitor, there are 28-inch models with TN matrices. An example would be BenQ’s cheap options. But as far as color reproduction is concerned, such models leave much to be desired when compared with more expensive models using an IPS matrix.

The Philips 276E8VJSB monitor uses a 60 Hz IPS panel from the Chinese manufacturer Panda Electronics. Matrix model LM270PF1L. The monitor has a native resolution of 3840×2160 4K UHD and supports 10-bit (8-bit + FRC) color depth. The claimed pixel response time is 5 ms, but more on that below.

Philips 276E8VJSB: Design

Philips 276E8VJSB, as usual comes in a minimalistic design. The base of the stand is sickle-shaped. The slim cylindrical stand is finished in a powder-coated metal style. This appearance gives lightness to the design.

The lower bezel under the screen is made of glossy black plastic. On the other three edges of the matrix is ​​a “super narrow bezel”. The screen bezel matches well with the 276E8VJSB surface. This is especially noticeable in the off state. The bezel is made of hard plastic.

The bezels are approximately 6mm at the top and sides. Bottom plank 20 mm including silver panel border. There is a Philips logo in the center of the bottom bezel that extends beyond the edge of the bezel. LM270PF1L matrix screen with antiglare coating, matte.

The OSD menu is controlled by a joystick. It is located under the logo. According to user reviews, the location of the joystick is considered inconvenient. You have to press hard enough to make sure the joystick responds correctly. Although the menu controls are intuitive.

What other users pay attention to is the small bright white LED of the monitor power indicator. It is located on the right side of the bottom panel. It cannot be turned off in the OSD and interferes with some of the work. But this is not the opinion of the majority. This problem is treated with black duct tape.

On the side, the Philips 276E8VJSB monitor is thin. It measures 15 mm at its thinnest point. In the place where the stand is attached, the size is increased. The complete stand allows you to tilt the screen forward by 5 degrees and backward by 20 degrees – adjustment only in this plane.

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The lower part of the Philips 276E8VJSB rises above the table by 94 mm, or rather to the bottom of the protruding Philips logo. The top of the screen is at 469 mm. Installing the monitor requires a surface depth of 190 mm. As such, it is a fairly compact design. VESA mount is not provided.

The rear of the Philips 276E8VJSB is minimalist, with plenty of glossy black plastic. The stand mounts from the bottom (no VESA). The lack of a wall mount is due to the screen being too thin. At the bottom left there is a slot for a secret lock.

All I / O ports are facing back. The panel contains: two HDMI 2.0 ports, DP 1.2, 3.5 mm audio output and a power connector. 3840×2160 @ 60Hz resolution is supported through both DP 1.2 and HDMI 2.0. HDMI cable, power cable and power adapter are included. External power supply.

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Philips 276E8VJSB design

Opportunities

The 276E8VJSB Philips monitor comes with a number of factory presets in terms of picture – these are “SmartImage Game”, “Gamer 1”, “Gamer 2”, “FPS”, “Racing”, “RTS” and “LowBlue Mode”. These presets simply adjust various settings in the main OSD menu and do not have any huge effect unlike manual settings.

An exception is the Bright Border feature, which highlights a specific area of ​​the screen. This setting is only available with certain presets. The color temperature ranges from 7311K to 5283K. Out of the box, the 276E8VJSB Philips monitor is bright with a cool and slightly greenish tint. Nevertheless, the gamma correction is good, the image on the screen looks saturated.

It is possible to enable the sRGB emulation mode, which slightly reduces the saturation of the picture. Although its own gamut does not really go far beyond the space. Finally, the user can change these parameters by himself using the “sRGB” setting. After these adjustments in the OSD, you can get a well-balanced, fairly bright and varied image.

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Contrast and brightness

After various measurements of the white and black brightness levels, the static contrast ratios can be calculated. Here are some of them. At 100% brightness, the result is 413 nits white, 0.44 nits black and a contrast ratio of 939: 1. At zero brightness: 89 nits white, 0.09 nits black and 989: 1. With the right custom setups it is possible to achieve 447 nits of white, 0.43 of blacks and a contrast ratio of 1040: 1.

The 276E8VJSB from Philips does not use PWM to adjust the brightness of the backlight. Instead, the usual current regulation takes place. This monitor is considered “flicker-free”, which is some advantage of this model.

Philips 276E8VJSB interfaces

Chromaticity

The Philips 276E8VJSB color gamut is in the sRGB reference space. The color gamut completely covers the sRGB color space (100%) with some expansion. This is especially noticeable in the green spectrum. This enables the monitor to display all hues in the sRGB color space with additional saturation.

The picture is slightly brighter overall, but the expansion beyond sRGB is not extreme. Oversaturation is imperceptible, everything looks pretty natural. The monitor supports sRGB emulation setting. This shrinks the color gamut to track sRGB more accurately. Viewing angles are adequate without color change. The optimal distance to the screen is 70 cm.

Intlag

When testing the Philips 276E8VJSB monitor, an input lag of 2.79 ms was calculated. This is about one-sixth of a frame. This parameter indicates a very low signal latency. At this point, the model in question gets a clear plus, despite the figure declared by the manufacturer.

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Interpolation

4K UHD resolution requires a scaling process. In some cases, this has to load the graphics processor of the video card. This can be seen with older video game consoles with lower output resolutions. The monitor will perform the interpolation process with good quality if the input content is 1080p (Full HD).

As with the Philips 328E1CA monitor , the PC user first needs to make sure that the video adapter is not trying to take over the scaling functions. For users with AMD GPUs, the monitor will handle scaling by default when playing games at non-standard resolutions. Nvidia users should make the appropriate “No Scale” settings in the Nvidia Control Panel.

Conclusion

With a 27-inch diagonal, the Philips 276E8VJSB 4K UHD screen provides excellent pixel density and a good desktop workspace. The scaling works smoothly, so for most users this is not a problem.

The monitor has the usual “home” look with a beautiful crescent-shaped metal stand. However, only vertical tilt may not be sufficient. The disadvantages include the lack of VESA mount. Sufficiently bright white LED indicator at the bottom of the monitor – we cover it with black tape.

The OSD controls are intuitive and legible, but the joystick rocker requires some pressure when pressed. Of course, this is not a major issue, but it can be a little annoying for some users. But you shouldn’t pay too much attention to these points if you need a 27-inch 4K monitor for everyday use.

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